A 38-year-old unhoused woman is suspected of burglarizing a North Whidbey construction business in September of last year, according to court documents.

Prosecutors charged Nicole R. Gilhousen in Island County Superior Court on March 15 with burglary in the second degree. If convicted of the charges against her, Gilhousen could spend 17 to 22 months in prison under the standard sentencing range.

Court records indicate that Gilhousen lives in the Oak Harbor area but is homeless.

Deputies from the Island County Sheriff’s Office responded to a commercial burglary on Sleeper Road on the morning of Sept. 21, 2023. According to the report, they arrived to find that the two suspects had fled into the nearby trees and brush.

Employees of the business told the deputies that they found someone had broken into two shipping containers on the property, and mail that did not belong to the business was spread about, according to the report. The employees confronted the suspects – one of whom was Gilhousen – and they ran into the woods.

The deputies retrieved Gilhousen and her companion from the woods and arrested them. A deputy noted in the report that one of the storage containers on the property had the door kicked in with a noticeable footprint, and the other showed signs of the window in the door being broken open so the door could be unlocked. One window had the screen removed and there were hand smudges on the window where someone appeared to have been trying to slide it open. Contents of the storage container were also found strewn about.

Gilhousen told deputies that her companion had kicked the door and broken the window, according to the report. She also admitted that the hand smudges on the window were hers. She said she ran because she has a felony warrant and did not want to get in trouble for burglary as well. She denied taking any mail.

Gilhousen is set to appear before the court on April 1.